The Morning After
by frazzledsoul
Summary: Rory and Jess finally hook up, and everyone's got an opinion. Takes place four years before AYITL.
1. Chapter 1

_This story started out from a Tumblr thread that questioned the fact that Jess and Rory had not seen each other for four years prior to their meeting up in AYITL. I thought it might be fun to play with that concept and this story was born. I also wanted to deal with some of the plot holes and unanswered questions that ASP left us with and see if I could come up with some satisfactory answers. I've never written fanfiction before and I haven't even attempted to write fiction for twenty years, so please be gentle with me. Any reviews or comments are always welcome._

 ** _June 2012_**

The first thing that hit Rory Gilmore when she woke up was an overwhelming sense of vertigo.

The migraine was encroaching on the borders of her skull soon followed.

Where _was_ she?

This was definitely not her bedroom back at home, with the Yale paraphernalia still plastered on the walls and the handful of books and beauty supplies scattered on the dresser. It also wasn't her tiny Brooklyn apartment, with the walls and floor that she haphazardly tried to keep clean and pest-free but yet always seemed to succumb to an ambiguously sticky muddle.

These brown walls did look awfully familiar to her, though.

Rory's gaze lingered on the free weights scattered in the corner. She shook her head and tried to get her bearings, and let her eyes rotate to the coffee table with the discarded shot glasses and battered paperbacks.

Suddenly it all came back to her.

Oh no. _Oh hell no._

Jess met her gaze from the doorway of the bathroom, a towel slung halfway across his bare chest.

"Sooo . . ."

Rory flopped back to the bed with an exasperated sigh.

* * *

It all started out so innocently.

April had spent most of June volunteering at a kids science camp in Boston, and was planning to spend a few weeks in Stars Hollow before she flew back to New Mexico to visit her mom. Rory had plans to spend the first week of July at a "Christmas in July" festival for a freelance piece she was writing on Civll War Reenactments, thus missing the annual Stars Hollow Independence Day soiree. It had been Lorelai's idea for her to swing back to town for the belated Father Day party being thrown in Sookie's backyard. Rory hadn't been back home for a few months: she had spent most of the last year flitting around to various locations working on different projects. She missed the structure of a regular news job, but she also liked getting the opportunity to travel to new places and experience different things. It wasn't quite as glamourous as the job she originally envisioned as a hard-hitting news reporter, but her years spent working the political beat had taught her that that kind of job could be dispiriting and dull. The nuts and bolts of political reporting got to be too much after a while: there was only so much you could say about the neverending gridlock and infighting, and the way her fellow reporters salivated at the mere whiff of scandal often made her feel three degrees away from working for Access Hollywood. It was nice to take a break from that, and focus on a reality where life wasn't about those types of things all of the time.

Of course, maybe all of that was just the crap she told herself to justify her choices after she had been laid off a year ago. She tried not to think about what she would have actually been reporting on if she had been able to keep her old job. Sure, the idealism of her youth had mostly been sucked away long ago, but it was an election year. She sometimes wondered what it would be to be writing a piece that she wouldn't be able to incorporate her quasi-stepfather's rants about the futility of tradition next to her observations of the bizarre small-town festivals that weren't so different from her own childhood. But it was what it was, and for the most part she enjoyed it.

She did miss home a lot. She missed her mother, and the diner, and that same quasi-stepfather who had become more and more of a dad as the years went by. She missed the junk-food-and-binge-watching routines she and her mother would settle into whenever they were together. She missed her own town's festivals, and the camaraderie that she always felt from being surrounded by so many people who had known her since she was small. She missed Lane, now firmly ensconced in family life and random musical projects, but who still knew her better than anyone else, no matter how different their lives had turned out. So much in her daily routine was unpredictable and bewildering, and she had grown to like that. But Stars Hollow was always a whirlwind of nostalgia and community that truly felt like home no matter what else was going on. It was always nice to have something to count on.

This weekend was no exception. Luke and Jackson manned the grill, passing out an assortment of burgers, hot dogs, and vegetable kebabs (Lorelai and Rory predictably refused the latter) to anyone who showed up. The boisterous products of the 2007 Stars Hollow baby boom all showed up to partake in the festivities, along with their parents: Rory's head felt dizzy from seeing Doula, Steve and Kwan jump around in the backyard along with Sookie's kids, darting from distraction to distraction. Zach and Lane had brought their guitars, but after seeing Sookie's youngest son approach the instruments with a bit too much of a devilish glee in his eye it was quickly decided that the spontaneous sing-a-long wasn't going to happen, and the instruments were stored in the safety of Sookie's kitchen. Zach brought out a soccer ball to distract the kids, and Jackson, Kirk, and Luke quickly joined in. (Luke's unexpected enthusiasm for kid-inspired endeavors is something Rory had gotten used to over the years, even though this time he claimed it was merely to rein in Kirk). April spent most of the evening chatting up Lulu's nephew, who she'd enjoyed a brief fling with two summers ago, a spectacle her father attempted to ignore. Eventually, Kirk decided to make the kids soccer game a bit too competitive, and the party dispersed. Luke and Lorelai, giddy with exertion and a bit too much red wine, departed for the Crap Shack while those with drowsy offspring absconded to their own homes and April disappeared to a friend's house. Jess and Rory were the only ones left standing.

Rory wasn't quite sure how they ended up back at the apartment. Jess looked a little more withdrawn since the last time she had seen him: she knew that the book press in Philadelphia had been supposedly temporarily shuttered, and Jess had ended up taking up residence in Luke's old apartment. He was fairly vague with the details when she asked him about it, but he did want to know as much about her cross-country adventures as she was willing to tell. Soon the talk turned to old friends and boyfriends, and the weirdness of remaining single and independent when so many of the people they had grown up with were settling down and getting married. Jess told her about running into Dean and his family the last time he was in the city (minus fisticuffs this time): Rory confessed how strange it seemed to her that even Paris, fearless slayer of all those who dared to stand in her path, was fully domesticated and pregnant.

It wasn't long until Rory was remembering all they had had in common, once in a while, long ago. She remembered the glee she felt as a teenager to finally be with someone who liked all the same things she did but yet had just enough of a dark edge to make her want more of it.

The glint in the eye was the same. Sometimes, he looked just the same.

* * *

"I can't believe this." Rory moaned, staring at the ceiling.

"It's a little weird for me, too," Jess admitted, plopping into a nearby armchair.

Rory shifted and sat up against the pillows, trying to keep herself from falling off of the edge of the single bed. "Don't get me wrong. It's not that it wasn't . . ."

"Glad for something resembling a compliment," Jess smirked, gazing out towards the window.

"It's just wrong."

"They're not married."

"I don't think it makes a difference at this point," Rory reasoned. "I mean, think about it, Jess. I'm here for a Father's Day celebration. We hooked up an occasion meant to honor our mutual relative. It's just too . . ."

"Hey," Jess countered, focusing his gaze on hers. Rory averted her eyes, suddenly all too aware that he was still half dressed. "We were connected way before they were. It's not like we don't know each other. I mean, were you really thinking about that the last time you tried to kiss me? We're adults now. It's a different situation."

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't a good idea ten years ago, either."

"Because you were with someone!" Jess insisted. "Is that the same thing now?"

"No", Rory sniffed. She forced herself to look Jess in the face. He arched his eyebrows. "I promise you, it's not."

Rory looked away. "How about you?"

Jeff scoffed. "In Stars Hollow? I think I've had enough of being grist for the rumor mill for one lifetime." He paused. "Well, nothing _serious_ , anyway."

Rory smiled. "I think your mere presence here might qualify you for that distinction."

Jess groaned and walked over to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. "Wasn't exactly what I had planned."

Rory glanced in his direction. "So you still don't want to talk about it, I guess."

Jess put the glass down and looked out the window. "Not really."

Rory fiddled with the sheet in her hands. "You know, I called my dad on Father's Day. He didn't call back. I haven't seen him since last summer. It turned out he's not that interested in me unless my mother's there to hold his hand."

Jess retreated back to the armchair. "I haven't seen mine since the summer after high school. At least yours put forth the effort for a while."

Rory sighed. "It was never about me as far he was concerned." She forced herself to meet Jess's gaze. "I did have a great time, you know. I just don't want things to get more complicated than they have to."

Jess nodded. "I get that." He grimaced "It is what it is. You, me."

Rory smiled, remembering. "I better get home."


	2. Chapter 2

Luke wasn't sure exactly how Jess had wound up back in Stars Hollow for the past six months.

It started out slowly. Luke knew the book press had been struggling for a while, and that there had been some rumblings about bad debt Jess had tried to clear up on his own. None of the other partners seemed to be involved anymore: it seemed to fall all on Jess. Luke figured that he would find something else to sustain him in the city he'd lived in for the past six years or that he'd make his way back to NYC. Still, he figured Jess might need a place to stay in the meantime, so he invited him to stay in the apartment above the diner if he felt the need. The apartment hadn't been used for anything more than storage and an occasional place to sleep for the past five years: most of the furniture had been moved over to Lorelai's a few months after they had reconciled, and the only things left were a coffee table and the twin bed Jess and April had once slept in. He didn't think Jess would actually want to stay there.

However, one weekend a month turned into two, and before Luke knew it Jess had moved the ratty leather sofa from the apartment above the bookstore into the apartment along with all of his vinyl records and books. He'd moved his old bed over to the spot where Luke's double bed used to reside, and converted his former corner of the room to his own private gym. He'd merely been asked to pick up the occasional shift at the diner and stay out of trouble, and for the most part Jess seemed content to comply. He spent the rest of his time holed up away from the rest of them, supposedly working on the book he was planning to write.

Luke figured he'd give him some space and let him pick up the occasional shift at the diner before he figured out what to do with himself. His domesticated status and past few years of rearing a teenage girl had mellowed him a lot from when Jess was his sole charge. Besides, Jess was no longer a kid, and he'd been stable for so long that Luke suspected he wouldn't run off the rails again. He knew more than anyone how much effort and toil and risk it took to run a business, and he felt the sting of Jess's failure when his attempt to operate Truncheon Books on his own had failed. Sure, it had worked out for him and for Lorelai, but they'd been self-starters in an environment that had nurtured them for decades. Jess's attempt to rescue a failing business through his efforts alone had been something completely different, and Luke wasn't sure he even fully grasped what it would take to succeed in that type of environment.

All the same, he worried about Jess locking himself up and withdrawing from the world, and he didn't want this to become a permanent solution to Jess's woes. He was happy in Stars Hollow: he had his girl and his business and a daughter who had finally shrugged off the worst of her sneering boyfriends and blank-eyed rages and was off to the future he'd always seen in her. April had turned out to be more like Jess than Rory in her teenage than he expected, and it was because of that that he didn't want any of the kids to settle for less than what they were worth.

Jess kept asking for that damned wi fi password, and he wouldn't give it up. Maybe he was a stubborn old man, but it didn't feel right to him. He wanted Jess to get invested in something that used to drive him like the book press did instead of succumbing to whatever digital distractions were out there. Maybe part of him figured that Jess would just give up after a while and head back to the city hub where he'd once built a life for himself. As time went on, he'd gradually come to realize that it wasn't so easy, but he didn't think he'd be improving anything by giving in at this point.

* * *

"So it looks like you had a late night."

Rory glanced up from where she was arranging her newly laundered clothes and inwardly groaned at her mother's smirk. "Um, yes, I guess you could say that."

"Mine was more than satis-"

"Okay, stop."

"Please. You know I wouldn't give you any real details at this point."

Rory plopped down on the other side of the bed and began sorting her shirts into colors. "Maybe we need to have that conversation about boundaries again."

"Whatever", Lorelai scoffed. She picked up the blue T shirt Rory had tossed to the side. "Hey, this looks like –"

Alabama Shakes.

Jess had worn it to the cookout last night. It had a picture of a copperhead snake blazoned on the front, something Lorelai knew Rory would never wear under normal circumstances. Jess was friends with the bassist, and had often raved about how good the band was. It was the shirt Rory had gone to sleep in the previous night.

Rory bowed her head.

"You didn't."

Rory bit down on her lip, and continued to sort her clothes.

"RORY."

"I didn't plan it, okay? It just sort of happened." Rory jumped to her feet and hurriedly started tossing her underwear to the side. "We just started talking about the past, and it's been a really long time since we saw each other, and –"

"I wonder if this is how things started between your great-grandparents. Maybe this kind of psychosis skips TWO generations –"

"Please don't tell Luke", Rory pleaded. "It's weird enough already."

"I don't think this kind of thing is going to stay a secret for long."

"Look, we agreed that it was a stupid mistake. We got caught up in the you know, _reverie_ of it all. That's it. We got drunk." Rory looked Lorelai in the eye, finally glad to have an explanation that made sense to her. "That's it. Drunk. Drunk on nostalgia."

Lorelai sat down on the bed. "Did you, though? Agree that it was a mistake?"

Rory moved some of the clothes aside, and reached under the bed for her briefcase. "Well, I did. It was a mistake." She sat back down. "It was a mistake, wasn't it?"

Lorelai smiled. "You know, Jess isn't in the best place in his life right now. I don't know the details, but the book press ended up going under when he took it all on himself."

Rory nodded. "I kind of figured that part."

"Look, I don't know what's going to happen. I know Luke doesn't want him to stay in that apartment forever, but he's not really in a position to kick him out. I just don't want you to feel like you can't come back here because of this weirdness between you two. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm always up for an excuse to pluck out the banjo music –"

"Please stop."

"I mean, wah wah wah, wah wah wah WAH WAH WAH –"

"MOOOOOMMM!"

"Just promise me you'll always come back here, no matter what else is going on."

Rory stood back up, and resumed placing her folded clothes in the suitcase. "I promise."

Lorelai sighed and picked up one of Rory's other shirts. It was a holdover from Lane's early band years: she could barely make out the Hep Alien logo on the front. She smiled to herself, thinking of days from long ago. "You know, I know what you're going through. That nostalgia can be a pretty powerful drug. Sometimes It keeps you going back to things that should have been let go a long time ago. She looked her daughter in the eye. "Relationships that should have been let go a long time ago."

Rory slid back down on the bed. "Are you saying Jess is like Dad?"

Lorelai smiled. "No, I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that he's kind of messed up right now, and he needs to find out what his next direction is. I don't know how long that's going to take, and I don't want you to get mixed up in it." Lorelai fingered the logo on the shirt before folding it and placing it back in the pile. "I spent a lot of time getting caught up in what used to be instead of focusing on what was in front of me because I wanted it to be something it's not. I just don't want you to do that."

Rory smiled. "Okay."

Lorelai stood up. "Good. So do I need to save the banjos for another TIME or –"

"You know, I think I'm done discussing this subject."

* * *

"They're NOT married."

"You keep saying that like it means something."

"You know that's just what –"

"Aha! I knew it!" April shot off of the bed where she was sitting next to Jess, sending it sliding out from the wall a good three feet. Jess grimaced and slid back towards the wall before scooting back to where he was lounging against the wall. "She doesn't think it's a good idea, either."

"Would you stop –"

"Dad's going to FREAK."

"You're NOT telling him."

April cackled. "I don't know. It might be fun for him to try to destroy someone else's love life for a change."

"Well, you tell him and I spill the beans about Burning Man."

April glared at him. "You wouldn't."

"Look, do you want me to meet you down there or not?"

"I just feel weird about going down there by myself for the first time, even if I'm bringing a few friends with me. I need someone to show me the ropes. You're supposed to be my _cool_ older cousin. Don't you feel like living up to your predestined role in life?"

Jess smirked. "I don't know how cool I feel these days, but thanks for the vote of confidence, kid." He picked up his book.

April sat back down. "Do you really think Rory's not going to tell her mom? Or that she won't tell Lane? It's going to get out eventually."

Jess turned the page. "You know, I'm starting to think Rory was right about this whole thing."

"Honestly, Jess, don't you think it's a little unseemly, what you're doing?"

Jess laid the book down. "You know, back in high school no one wanted us together, either. Luke was always thinking I was the one who was going to ruin everything."

April sighed. "We-el . . ."

Jess arched an eyebrow. "You've been told way too much family history."

Both of them looked up as Luke let himself into the apartment. "Hey, there you are. So um, April, that little punk from last night –"

Jess watched Luke carefully as he tried to reel himself in.

"Anyway, he came by a few minutes ago looking for you."

April spun around and rested her elbows on her knees, enjoying her father's discomfort.

"Anyway, I kind of encouraged him to scram, but I figured he might be looking for you at the house."

April leaped to her feet. "I'll be sure to tell him you said hi. Nice show of restraint, Dad." She kissed him on the cheek and closed the door behind her.

Jess guffawed and moved his book over to the other side of the bed.

Luke grimaced. "Don't even start. I'm trying to be better."

"I think that's the only guy left in this town who's not terrified to go near her at this point".

Luke smiled. "Well, I am good for some things. You heading down there about four?"

Jess hauled himself off the bed and headed to the fridge for a beer. "That's the plan."

Luke nodded. "Good, good." He caught glimpse of a shiny purple object on the table. "Hey, isn't that –"

Jess tried to spin and get to the evidence of last night's encounter before Luke could, but the whiskey had left him with more of an effect than he intended.

Luke picked up the phone. "This is RORY'S."

Jess put the beer on the counter and rubbed his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

"I know that look you're giving me. You were with her last night?"

Jess pulled out the chair from the dining room table and plopped down in it. "Look, it was an accident. You and Lorelai disappeared, everyone else took the kids home, April took off with that friend of hers . . . we were the only ones there. We got to talking and . . ."

Luke pulled the other chair out and sat down. "This is far LESS than appropriate now."

"That's what everyone else says. I mean, come on, Luke, it's not like we don't know each other. We're friends. We're still interested in the same things -"

Luke shook his head. "It's not like it was when you were kids. You're practically related now. You run into each other at holidays."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Do you really think you're in the position to offer her anything at this point? You've been lounging in this apartment for six months, working on that book no one's ever seen. This whole life you had built up in Philadelphia, any chance of trying to rebuild what you had there: where is it? I don't see it. I keep trying to be patient and tell everyone it's going to work out for the best, but hell if I know." Luke stopped himself, trying to rein in the ranting. "And now you've gone and hooked up with your de facto cousin. Do you have any idea how many lines you are crossing? Sometimes it's like nothing's changed since the last time you were here. "

Jess let his head fall back. "Stop. You really think this is new information here? I tried to save the business. I sunk everything I had into it. I failed. So I come back here and I'm living the same life I had when I was 17. You think I feel good about that?"

"I know you don't. But this isn't helping."

"Like you're really one to give me relationship advice.

Luke cocked his head to the side. "What the hell does that mean?"

"What do you think it means? You pine after Lorelai for years, you finally get together, you're going to get married. Then this kid pops up that no one's ever heard of, and you actually try to pretend that Lorelai doesn't exist, and that you don't know Rory. You took April to my book launch, and you can't even explain to her who Rory is, that Lorelai even exists."

Luke put his hand over his eyes.

"What was it you told me a long time ago? That it wasn't right for me to treat someone like crap and for her to do the same to me? Heck, you go out and marry someone I know you didn't give a shit about because you couldn't have the person you wanted, and you still go out and do all this stuff."

Luke let his gaze meet Jess's. "How on Earth do you remember all of this?"

"Oh, I'm a lot better at keeping track than you think, "Jess countered. He paused and took another swig of his beer. "Next thing I know you're split up and she's married to Rory's dad, but you're still following her around like a lost puppy dog. Then you're back together, and it's like you're married but you're not, and none of that ever happened. And you know what? You turned out to be right about her. Things worked out. You're really going to sit here and tell me that me and Rory are less weird than your situation?"

Luke adjusted his cap. "No."

Jess tipped his chair back on one leg. "Whoa. Are you actually telling me I'm right? Are you admitting I'm less screwed up than you were?"

Luke glared at him. "Not exactly."

Jess looked at him questionably.

"I didn't think you saw what happened between me and Rory back then."

"Rory told me."

Luke looked down at his hands. "I got really screwed up when April came around at first. What happened when Rory met April – it wasn't right. Whatever was wrong with me, I should never have let it bleed over to Rory and you and April. It was complicated. More complicated than you know. But it was mostly my fault."

Luke looked Jess in the eye.

"I don't ever want to hear you blame this on Lorelai. At least that part of it. Especially that part of it. I'm not really sure how I ever got her back, but I did. " He let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Maybe when you get to be an old and ornery man like me, you'll learn to leave better off alone when something is working. If you're happy, there's no need to mess with it."

"So why _aren't_ you guys married by now?"

Luke shrugged. "We've got a pretty wretched track record. She doesn't want to do it. I screwed up before, I wasn't ready –" He paused. "Whatever she's ready for now, I am, too." He rubbed his hands together. "But me and Lorelai is _me and Lorelai_. It's got nothing to do with you two."

"Oh, come on, it's got everything to do with –"

"Let me finish," Luke interrupted, eager to put a dent in his nephew's indignation. "We both know what it's like to be stuck on someone you feel you can't have, and what it feels like when they finally say yes." He made sure to choose his next words very carefully. "But whatever you decide to do here, it's not just about you guys anymore. And I don't want you to cling to her just because you don't have a lot else going on. That isn't fair to her or to the rest of us if it doesn't work out."

Jess glared at him. "It's just like before. You're still trying to protect her before anything else."

Luke shook his head. "I'm trying to protect _both_ of you."

Jess spun the half-empty bottle on the rim of the table. "You know, I'm not exactly the same person I was when I was growing up there."

Luke nodded. "You did some great things out there. Just because it didn't work out doesn't mean those things never happened."

Jess placed the bottle on top of the table. "What if I told you that I was thinking of a way to put the book press back together? The bad debt – it's mostly not in my name. I even know of someone who can rent us a new space. Most of the stuff we had is salvageable. It can be done." He rubbed his eyes. "It's a big risk, but it can be done."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "And this book you've been toiling away on up here all this time?"

Jess grinned. "Well, we've got to have something new to put out."

Luke put his hands together. "Well, you know, I've got a business. Lorelai's got a business. There's stuff we can help you out with. It's never easy, but there's a lot of ways to avoid what happened before."

Jess chucked the beer bottle into the wastebasket. "Well, I'll let you know." He fiddled with the side of the table. "But if I'm going to get started from here, there are certain pieces of information that might make it a lot easier".

Luke averted his eyes, rubbing his knuckles together.

"OH MY GOD."

Rory buried her head in her hands.

Lane hurried over to the dining room table with two battered mugs full of coffee. She slid one over to Rory, and tried to find room to place her s down amongst the detritus of the latest Kim/Van Gerbig crowdfunding project. "I mean, seriously. I would have expected it the first year or two after you guys broke up –"

Rory lifted her head and ran her fingers over the faded Grizzly Bear logo on her mug. "I have to say, that seems to be a popular opinion today."

Lane pursed her lips, suspecting she was being far less understanding than Rory expected. "I guess your mom already found out."

"I wore his shirt home. A shirt with a giant snake on it. It wasn't that hard to figure out." Rory stared out the window. "I feel like such a screw up."

Lane reached her hand out to Rory's. "Don't feel that way."

Rory threw her hands up in the air. "Well, why not? Your reaction is the same as everyone else's. We're pretty much cousins, right? I can already see everyone looking at me, thinking I'm one step away from settling down with the gap-toothed guy in the swamp. AND JESS IS GOING TO BE THE GUY IN THE SWAMP! Seriously, what have we done here?"

"Okay, now you're just thinking crazy."

"Am, I though?" Rory took another sip of her drink.

Lane shot her what she hoped was a far more sympathetic look. "How was it?"

Rory couldn't help herself from grinning. "Great, actually."

"So there's that, then."

"Yeah, but –"

Lane tucked her hair behind her ear, waiting for Rory to continue.

"Look, he's been really amazing for the past couple of years. Any time he saw anything I'd written, I'd always hear from him. He'd send some of the stuff he was writing to me, I'd send the stuff I was working on to him. We could really talk about the things that interested us, like we used to." Rory rubbed her finger over her eyebrows. "I mean, we're not exactly in the same industry, but it's more like it used to be, before we got together."

Lane wrinkled her nose. "Well, you know, maybe that's a sign –"

Rory looked up. "A sign of what?"

"That you guys should stay _friends_. Maybe you just aren't meant to work as a couple. Especially given, you know –"

Rory nodded. "Family complications."

"Exactly."

Rory shifted her cup from one hand to the other. "That's what makes it so weird. With everything that went down with Mom and Luke, Jess was the only one who really understood how confusing it all had been. Maybe we didn't always have our real dads in the picture, but we did have Luke in common." She adjusted the strap on her bracelet, nervously moving the clasp back and forth. "Then we had this new person to share him with, and no one else really understood the strangeness of it all, especially when things got back to normal again."

Lane set down her mug and moved her laptop a few inches to the right to keep it from sliding off the table. "You know, you aren't going to want to hear this, but when you say it like that, it becomes even more perverse."

Rory shook her head. "I know. We're quasi step siblings as well as cousins. It would be . . . really complicated."

Lane wiped her side of the table with her napkin and stood up. She crossed the kitchen to rinse her cup out in the sink. "So do you think this is going to go any farther?"

Rory drained the rest of her cup and placed it down on the table. "I don't know right now. I really don't." She picked up the CD on top of the stack closest to her. "Hey, this is you."

Lane returned to her side of the table and brought the laptop back to life. "Why, yes, Rory, that _is_ me."

"I thought you put out a CD last fall."

Lane shuffled the papers on the table. "Nah, that was Zach and me. This one is technically just me, although Zach did play guitar on some of the tracks. I had to play all the drums myself, because I'm a perfectionist, but we're looking to get someone else to help us when we go back out."

Rory fingered the edge of the CD. "How long are you doing that for this time?"

Lane squinted and typed away at the keyboard. "Just six weeks or so. We'll be home in time for the boys to start school. We'll probably do some more stuff around the holidays, but it's back to normal life for a few months."

Rory looked at Lane with pride, marveling at the discipline it took to shuffle being a working musician and a mom. Most of the time she had trouble even staying in the same state for more than a month at a time. "So, all this that you've got here –"

"PledgeMusic."

"Is that different from –"

"Kickstarter?" Lane sighed. "A lot different. It was an organizational nightmare last time. If people wanted to change their orders, they had to contact us first, and –" She shook her head. "It was a mess, what with the boys and Zach's day job and –" She adjusted the brightness on the side of the laptop. "We got a project manager this time so all we really have to worry about is sending stuff out. Of course, they take a little more off the top, but –" Lane shrugged. "Them's the breaks."

Rory grinned. "Well, it's great to see that things are working out. Are you bringing the kids with you this time?"

Lane looked up from the keyboard. "I might be crazy, but yeah. Turns out my mom's tragic Flyleaf addiction has made her more amenable to coming along with us to you know, normal clubs." She shrugged. "If I'd known years ago that's all I had to do to get her onboard, I would have have introduced her to Christian speed metal a lot sooner."

Rory absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair. "You know, I'm really sorry I couldn't meet up with you guys last summer."

Lane rescued the haphazardly assembled stack of autographed CD inserts just before they fell over. "Did I tell you we ran into Dave there?"

"NO. I thought he was in Cedar Rapids, though?"

Lane separated the stack of inserts into smaller piles. "Nah, I guess he missed us up here. He's in Albany now: moved up last year." She grinned. "His wife was pregnant again. Popped out another girl last spring."

Rory spun her coffee cup around. "I should pay more attention to Facebook, I guess."

Lane guffawed. "Meh. Too much drama. It's good seeing him again, though. Funny he wound up with twin girls and I had twin boys, though. Good thing we didn't wind up together. I might have ended up with quadruplets and then one more." She picked up the cap of her pen. "Can you imagine?"

Rory laughed. "Definitely not. I couldn't see you married to an accountant, anyway."

Lane picked up the stack of envelopes on the other side of the computer. "So where were you anyway?"

"The Testicle Fes –"

Lane shook her head silently as the glass door opened and Kwan stepped into the kitchen, mud dripping from where it covered most of his shorts.

"What happened to you?"

Kwan approached the table with an impish grin on his face.

"You know what we say about touching Mom and Dad's band stuff. Where's your brother?"

"Out on the patio making more mud pies."

Lane frowned. "Oh boy. ZACH!"

Zach crossed over from the hallway, stopping in his tracks a few feet away from the table. "Oh , man."

"I thought you were going to fix their bikes".

Zach brushed his hair out of his eyes. "The wheels keep falling off whenever I try to adjust them. If I can just –"

Lane raised her eyebrows.

"I'll call Luke."

"Before you do that, please take him and his brother, hose them and the patio down, and bring them in by the garage. I don't want any of that mud getting close to the stuff."

"Yeah, yeah". Zach ushered his son towards the door. "You know, kid, sometimes you're just a little _too_ rock and roll."

Lane and Rory giggled as they met each other's eyes.

 _This chapter went a lot longer than I thought it would. I know the Lane stuff gets a little out there, but since ASP didn't really want to give her much of a musical career, I thought I would. Lane looked very happy in the revival, but to me Lane wouldn't be happy unless she was creatively fulfilled._

 _Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read this. I really appreciate it._


	4. Chapter 4

Lorelai was nursing her third cup of coffee when Luke burst into the kitchen halfway into rant mode on his cell phone.

"No on the SIDE –" He stopped, exasperated. "No, the wheels won't stay on that way, Zach. Just –" Lorelai chuckled to herself as Luke switched the phone to his other ear. "Look, do what you can. I'll stop by a little later on, OK? FINE." He glanced in her direction as she glanced at him, clearly amused. "It's not funny."

Lorelai gestured towards the kitchen window. "I doubt they're going to get much use of them for the rest of the day." The rain outside had already worked itself up beyond a light drizzle.

Luke walked to the refrigerator and began to fix what Lorelai was certain was a disgustingly healthy sandwich. "So, five year olds and their ridiculously tricked out bikes aside, the cookout seemed to be a success, right?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "There were a few things about it I certainly enjoyed."

Luke returned her grin and sauntered over to the other side of the table. "Right".

Lorelai ran her fingers over the McSteamy logo on the side of her mug, thinking over her next step as Luke tore into his sandwich. "So, Luke, last night after we left –"

"Uh huh?"

Lorelai decided to plunge right in. "Rory spent the night at the apartment last night."

"Hmm," Luke answered nonchalantly.

"With Jess."

"With Jess, huh?" He seemed remarkably nonplussed by this development.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "You know."

Luke reached into his pocket and placed Rory's phone on the table. "Found that this morning when I went to go look for April."

"You seem a lot less freaked out than I thought you would be," Lorelai admitted.

"I've had a little time to adjust."

Lorelai took another sip of coffee. "I'm going crazy just thinking about how I'm going to have to change her ringtone to Cotton Eye Joe".

Luke gave her that look that usually meant he was pretending to humor her increasingly obsolete pop culture references.

"Oh, I'm not exactly crazy about the idea. Her all over the place, him still stuck in the apartment trying to figure things out." He took a bite of his sandwich. "Not to mention the effect it's going to have on April."

"Don't you think they're a little too –" Lorelai made a grand gesture with her arms that Luke knew could only be a reference to their increasingly tangled postmodern family tree.

"Close?" he offered.

Lorelai smiled to herself. "Yes, _close_ is one way I might put it."

"First thing I brought up."

"It's not just that. Everything went so bad last time." Lorelai tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, trying to dampen down her old fears.

"They were teenagers," he protested.

"He broke Rory's heart, Luke." Lorelai bit her bottom lip. "He broke _your_ heart," she continued softly.

"I threw _him_ out, Lorelai. I was supposed to fix the damned kid and all I did was force him to run as far away from me as possible." He shook his head. "I'm trying to do better this time."

"Sometimes all I can think of is that time he left you drunk and bleeding on my sofa. I've never seen you like that, Luke. Who else has that effect on you? And after all you did for him." Lorelai fingered the brim of the cup, remembering that ancient day in the bitter cold.

"That was a long time ago," Luke reminded her.

She picked at the chip on the handle of the cup. "All this stuff with the business failing, him holing up and not working on anything . . . he's unstable. What if he decides to get up and run again without telling anyone?"

"Lorelai," Luke said softly. She looked up. "It's not the same. What happened before . . . part of it was me, but Jess wanted to leave. He didn't want to stay here. It took time for him to find out where he wanted to be."

"That's what worries me, Luke. He almost took my daughter along with him while he trying to figure that out. Yeah, he settled on what he wanted to do, but when that fell apart he ended up back here. I don't think he wants to stay here now, either. Do you?"

"No", Luke conceded. "But he's not a kid anymore. He got his GED on his own. He stayed in the same place for six years. He ran a business. He took over that business when everyone else involved couldn't commit to it anymore. What happened to him could have happened to you or me if we'd been younger and unluckier or had flakier partners." He shrugged. "This thing he's going through right now – I have to believe it's temporary. He wants to get back to where he was. If either of them's going to drag the other one across the country, it won't be Jess."

Lorelai nodded, but Luke could tell it didn't make her feel any better about it.

"What if Jess gets straightened out and things go wrong between them anyway?" Lorelai bit her lip again. "What if you have to choose between them again? I can't not choose Rory, Luke but you –"

Luke looked her in the eye. "I'm not choosing either of them."

Lorelai's voice dropped to a whisper. "You've chosen before, though. It wasn't Jess that time, but you did."

The silence hung a little too thickly in the air.

Luke cleared his throat. "What happened before, I can't fix -" He stopped himself. " You and Rory are just as important to me as April and Jess are. "

Lorelai felt a wave of guilt pass over her. "I know."

"That wasn't about me not caring for Rory. You know I'd do -" Luke stammered, looking down at his hands. "I'm not good at this."

Lorelai let her gaze wander to the rain-drenched window. She knew he was right. "I know that, too." She picked up her cup and took another sip. "Wasn't it supposed to get easier once they turned 18?

"I wasn't really expecting this type of situation."

"Me neither." Lorelai traced her finger around the moisture on the inside of the cup. "I'm always afraid something's going to happen to make her not want to come home."

Luke reached his hand out to hers. "She'll always come home."

Lorelai nodded. She felt her fear begin to dissipate. Luke usually had that effect on her.

Luke smiled and used both hands to polish off what was left of his sandwich. "Besides, you know -" He shrugged. "Maybe it's not as bad as we were thinking."

Lorelai's mouth dropped. "You can't possibly be serious."

"They're not starting from scratch. They know each other, they've stayed friends. Half the conversations they have go totally over our heads -"

"I don't understand half of what April goes on about, either," Lorelai argued. "So our kids are smarter than us. That doesn't mean it's a good idea."

Luke wiped his chin with his napkin. "Well, you know, you and me -" He ran his fingers over his stubble. "Our relationship hasn't exactly been conventional."

Lorelai felt a wave of trepidation start to wash over her. One she hadn't felt for a long time. "What are you saying? That we should get married just so the kids can hump each other?"

Luke put his hands up. "That's not what I'm saying at all." He let that wicked half smile of his reach across his face, and Lorelai felt herself soften. "All I meant was that if Jess ever finds a way to be half as lucky as I am, I want him to get there in any way he can."

Lorelei's heart half melted.

Luke crossed the kitchen to throw away his napkin. "I'm heading over to Lane and Zach's." He leaned down to kiss her goodbye. "There's half a boysenberry pie left in the fridge. Try to save some for the girls."

Lorelai brought the coffee cup up to her lips as she watched him leave and pondered her own good luck.

* * *

Rory seemed a lot more frazzled when Lorelai stepped into her bedroom later that afternoon.

"What exactly happened in here?"

Rory looked up from the bedroom floor and retrieved the handful of paperbacks that had slipped behind the bedframe. "Nothing. I just though I lost these and better rescue them before I head out for parts unknown."

"You heading back to Brooklyn tonight?" Lorelai asked, slowly tossing aside the discarded clothes and electronic items that had lay across the bed.

"Yeah," Rory answered, starting to pick up everything she'd briefly unpacked and place it neatly back in her suitcase. "I figured I'd check on things back at the apartment since I'm not going to be back there for a few weeks."

Lorelai handed Rory her charger and a jumble of USB cords, which Rory neatly sealed up in a Ziploc bag and placed next to the jeans she'd worn the previous day. "Your phone's on the kitchen table. Luke retrieved it for you this morning."

Rory looked up for her nearly repacked suitcase, panic stricken across her features. "So Luke –"

"Yup," Lorelai admitted.

"Great", Rory scoffed. "That's lovely." She paused. "What did he have to say about it?"

"Well, I think he's in a more positive frame of mind than I am."

"Really?" Rory was surprised.

Lorelai sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Look, Rory, you know Luke and I want both you and Jess to be happy."

"You want both me _and_ Jess to be happy, huh?"

Lorelai pointedly ignored her daughter's sarcasm. "I'm not crazy about the idea, believe me. But maybe I was a little harsh this morning."

"Well, this is Connecticut. Not a lot of opportunities for banjo jokes." Rory let the glimmer in her eye meet her mother's.

"I really didn't mean to make such a joke of what's been going on with you two, as tempting as it is." Lorelai paused. "You know, I haven't always been the best example for you here."

"Like your year of playing musical husbands?" Rory cringed as soon as the words escaped her mouth. "Mom, I didn't mean –"

Lorelai shrugged. "No, I probably deserve that a little. Look, if my experience is anything to go by, sometimes you don't really know what makes a relationship work unless you're in it." She smiled." So as much as I hate to impress my opinion on you, just keep that in mind, OK?"

"That I will do." Rory closed her suitcase.

"So you and Jess –"

Rory leaned over to place the suitcase on the side of the bed. "I don't know. I keep convincing myself it's a bad idea, but part of me figures it won't be quite as disastrous as I think. I haven't really sorted it out yet.

"Well, let me know, OK?"

Rory nodded. "I will."

* * *

Lorelai was sitting on the couch on the front porch flipping through her phone when Luke returned to the house. The rain had stopped and the sun had finally made a reappearance. April's upstairs bedroom window was open, and the strains of her animated cell phone conversation with her mother were adding up to quite the cacophony of background noise.

"How long has that been going on? Luke asked as he strolled up to the porch.

"About twenty minutes."

Luke sat down next to Lorelai on the sofa. "I'll check on her in about ten and make sure she hasn't broken any bookcases."

"How long is she planning to stay in New Mexico before she goes back to school?" Lorelai asked.

"Three weeks," Luke answered. Lorelai shot him a questioning look. "Don't even start."

"I'm just saying, Luke, she lasted five days last summer –"

"I've got it handled," Luke assured her. "If it happens again, I'll send her a ticket and she'll end up here again for a few weeks."

"A few weeks, huh?" Lorelai reiterated.

"Yup," Luke answered. He stretched his arm around the other side of the sofa and fingered Lorelai's curls.

He paused a moment and wove one of her tendrils around his thumb. "You know, I really wasn't expecting to start World War Three when I offered to pay for her to go to school by myself. " Lorelai reached over and patted his knee. "I just wanted to do this one thing for her, you know? I mean, this kid of mine, this super genius, gets into MIT. It was all her. It was the least I could do."

"I don't think you could have known how her mother would react. I mean, I get it, kind of. If Rory had wanted to go to school far away –"

Luke stared off into this distance pensively. "Yeah, well, I don't think I helped by offering to escort her to Alaska instead of insisting she attend her own graduation."

Lorelai gazed at him, wanting to show him some reassurance. "Well, she's like you in that way. She gets an idea stuck in her head, and she has to follow it through."

"Yeah." Luke rubbed his chin. "I would have liked to have seen it, I guess. If I had even been allowed. I know April knew it might get to that point, which is why she came up this harebrained scheme of hers. Some kids want to go to Europe after they finish high school. Mine wants to go watch whale hunters toss each other up in the air."

"I was always kind of sad I could never make any good word puns out of your grand Nalukataq adventure," Lorelai admonished him.

"Yes, that's the one thing to remember," Luke deadpanned. "Your inability to come up with any word puns."

Lorelai poked him in the ribs. Luke smirked and pulled her closer to him.

"You know, it's your own fault for teaching that kid to gut a fish almost as soon as you got ahold of her."

"I tried to teach Rory and Jess. April was the only who liked it." Luke let his eyes wander over to where the sun was beginning to set in the distance. "We had a good time, though."

Their contemplation was broken by a loud thud coming from the direction of April's bedroom.. Lorelai jumped, then settled down against him.

"Luke –"

"Not yet. If I hear glass breaking, I'll go up."

"Okay", Lorelai reluctantly agreed. She looked down at her hands. "I talked to Rory."

Luke turned his head and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"I don't think she wants anything to go further than it did last night." She sighed. "Still, the idea's out there. "

"Yup." Luke wove another curl around his finger. "Not much either of us can do at this point, you know." He paused. "You know, Jess talked to me about getting the book press back together. He's got some pretty good ideas."

Lorelai glanced at him accusingly. "You could have mentioned that this afternoon, you know."

"Would it have changed your mind about any of this?" Luke raised his eyebrows.

Lorelai pouted. "No," she admitted.

Luke let his gaze wander to the horizon once more. "I still don't know if it's a great idea. If it fails again and he winds up back here –" He shook his head. "Well, it would be something, at least."

"Yeah, " Lorelai echoed. "It would be something."

Luke continued to fiddle with Lorelai's curls. "He wants to get things going while he's here."

Lorelai rubbed her finger over the seam of his jeans. "Well, Luke you know you may be able to help him out with that one."

"I know. I'm thinking about it." Luke rubbed his eyebrows with his other hand.

"Thinking about it, huh?"

"Yeah." They settled into a companionable silence.

Lorelai reached for his hand. "Luke?" she began tremulously.

"Hmm?"

"That thing you said before, about you and me being unconventional –"

"Hey," Luke looked her in the eye. "I'm very happy with where we are." He kissed Lorelai on her temple, inducing a happy sigh from her. "You know that."

Lorelai gazed at him, that familiar warmth seeping through her. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too."

Lorelai threaded his fingers through hers.

At that point, they heard April shriek and something clash against the wall.

Luke sighed. "I guess I better head on up there."

"In a minute", Lorelai protested.

He smiled. "In a minute."

 _For the curious, the Nalukataq festival is a real thing that happens in Barrow, Alaska at the end of the whaling season. The giant, gaping plot hole that was left open in the revival concerning April's graduation has always bothered me, but I've always figured the simplest explanation is that she got involved in some academic pursuit and chose to skip her own graduation (and when it came time to graduate from college, simply repeated the process since she didn't miss much the first time)._

 _There's no way Luke wouldn't choose to be there if he could, and I thought it was important to have him show a little pride in his youngest child's achievements, something that was dearly missing from this last batch of episodes._


	5. Chapter 5

The diner was in the middle of the dinner rush when Rory strolled in the door. She met Jess at the counter, clutching a blue piece of fabric in her hands.

"Headed out already?

Rory shuffled from one foot to the other. "Just about. I just wanted –" She held the T shirt up in the air. "I guess I can leave this upstairs."

Jess shut the cash register and handed the change to his customer. "I can spare a few minutes. CAESAR!" he bellowed. "I'll be back in ten."

He put his hand on Rory's shoulder and led her out the front door.

Rory attempted to hand the shirt back to him. He inwardly cringed and shook his head.

"I don't want it back."

"Jess –" Rory pleaded.

"No, seriously. Keep it."

Rory felt her frustration getting the better of her. "I don't want to keep this as a reminder of what happened this weekend. Like a souvenir. Like I'm not going to see you again. God!"

Jess smiled. "Oh, you'll definitely see me again. You and me, Rory – we're connected. And not just in the way you've been reminded by everyone else this weekend."

"You got the same lecture too, huh?"

"Yup. You know, I figured when I hadn't seen you all day the way thing were rattling around in that mind of yours." He shoved his hands in his pockets.. "I can't say they don't have a point."

Rory focused her gaze on her hands. Jess felt his heart start to sink a little, but he tried to ignore it.

"Look, I know it's not the most ideal situation. I'm here and you're well, everywhere. I'm proud, you know. I always knew you had it in you. I've got plans for things, I'm just –" Jess gazed off into the rain-soaked street. "It's going to take a while to make things happen."

"It'll be better for you once the book's finished, Jess. I know it will."

"Well, we're almost there. You should know, you've seen most of it." He scratched his chin. "I can't say your opinion's going to be the same as some other people we know."

Rory grinned. "If I know you, they won't even be able to tell that they're in it."

"Yeah, well, I haven't quite decided about that part of it. You were right, though. The less they can see themselves, the better." Jess paused. "Look, Rory, this thing between us –

Rory looked down and fingered the edge of the shirt.

"I'm not saying it wouldn't be difficult. And not just because of everyone else." Jess sighed. "Rory, if you wanted to give a try, despite everything –" He let that sarcastic grin of his creep across his face, and despite her best intentions, Rory could feel her heart start to leap. "I'd be game. You know me. When it comes to you, part of me is always going to be game."

Rory brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Jess, I –"

Jess waited, trying to dampen his hopes in the silence around them that was growing a little too loud.

"It's not that I don't want to. I mean, a part of me really wants to. It's just with things being the way they are with you –"

Jess nodded.

"And me being where I am right now." Rory shrugged. "I kind of don't know what I'm doing from one week to the next. I mean, I like that. I wanted that."

"You're great at it."

"I mean, if things ever settle down for me, if things get for you like you wanted them to be, I could see myself wanting it. It could be a great thing. I just don't think it's a good idea right now."

Jess looked back in the direction of the diner. "I get it. "

Rory felt herself feel a little less guilty for disappointing him. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"So we're still friends?"

Jess smirked. "We'll always be friends. Friends with at least one kickass memory."

Rory grinned and tucked her hair behind her ear. "You know, Jess, despite everything else that's going on, I won't regret that part of it."

Jess rubbed his fingers over the top of his head. "Well, I'm relieved to have at least that much."

"So the shirt?"

"Keep it. I think you need it where you're going. West Jefferson, North Carolina, right?"

Rory nodded.

Jess returned his hands to his pockets. "Well, it's been a few months, but I believe that there is a copperhead snake. Plenty of that where you're going, especially at night. Got to know your enemy, Gilmore."

Rory held the shirt up. "So this here, it's just your way of looking out for me, huh?"

"Well, I think you can handle yourself. This is just me trying to give you a few pointers."

She grinned. "I appreciate it."

Jess returned her expression. "Always here to help."

Rory adjusted her purse strap. "Hey Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Send me the first draft of that book when it's finished, OK? And remember what I said. What they don't know won't hurt them."

"Something to keep in mind." He shrugged. "Once I've got that figured out, it'll probably be ready."

They looked up just in time to see Caesar bang on the inside of the diner door.

Rory fingered the buckle on the outside of her purse. "Well, anyway, bye, Jess."

She reached up to kiss him on the cheek.

Jess smoothed her hair away from her face, and Rory felt her lips migrate to his.

They both pulled back, and Rory felt herself quiver just a tad.

He raised his eyebrows at her, and she laughed.

Jess gazed after her as she walked off into the twilight.

* * *

Luke met Rory at her bedroom doorway as she was packing up the last of her luggage.

"So you're headed back now, huh?"

Rory tossed a look at him over her shoulder as she zipped up her laptop case. "Yup."

"You say goodbye to April?"

"I tried, but –" Rory shook her head. "I'm not sure she was paying that much attention."

"That guy at the party, huh?"

"Yup." Rory looked up and grinned. "You're not going to say anything about that?"

Luke thumbed the edge of his jeans pocket. "I'm trying to learn to restrain myself when it comes to that stuff. Better late than never."

Rory placed the laptop case next to her suitcase, and turned around to face him. "Right. So, Luke –"

"I know you know I already know about Jess." He looked down at his feet. "I'm not going to say anything either way, Rory. I'm going to trust that both of you know what you're doing. I just want you to know that if it ever became something that's too uncomfortable for you, you know that I'm always going to be here for you and your mom. I want you to know that."

Rory smiled. "I do."

"Good." Luke adjusted the edge of his cap. "Rory, when Jess brought all this up, there's something he made me remember. You remember when you went to see Jess in Philadelphia a few years ago, back when your mom and I were engaged, and I was there with April?"

Rory bit her lip, half fearing where this was going. "Yup."

"Look, all the stuff back then between your mom and me –" Luke raised his eyes to meet Rory's. "We figured it out a long time ago. We wouldn't be here if we hadn't. But I don't think I ever told you how sorry I was for not being able to tell April how I knew you, how much you and your mom mattered to me. Neither of you deserved that. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"It's really okay, Luke."

Luke sighed. "You know, you and Jess and April, it's never one person over the other. I'm responsible for all three of you. I just want the best for all of you guys. I guess I haven't always done the best job of juggling it in the past. I'm trying my best."

Rory fiddled with her bracelet, unsure of the best way to reassure him. "For what it's worth, I think you've done a pretty good job. Everything that happened five years ago, it's in the past. It doesn't outweigh the other stuff."

Luke nodded. "Good. I'm glad." He gestured in the direction of the kitchen. "So, anyway, I've got a few bags of stuff in the fridge for you. Let me carry them out to your car."

Lorelai met Rory in the foyer as Luke was gathering her spoils behind them.

"So, Rory. That thing we talked about before –

Rory sighed. "Oh, look who's attempting subtlety now."

Lorelai ignored her. "Did you talk to him?"

"I did."

"And?"

Rory trotted towards the front door. "Nothing's happening right now to upset the equilibrium here. We're remaining status quo."

"Good. I'm glad."

Rory looked her mother in the eye. "And if it had gone the other way –"

"I would have dealt with it," Lorelai insisted.

"Nothing's closed forever, Mom." She gestured to Luke, who had just absconded out the front door with her bags. "I think you should know that by now."

Lorelai gazed in his direction as they slowly made their way to Rory's car. "I do. Believe me, I do."

Luke looked up from the back seat where he was arranging Rory's bags. "All set?"

"Yup," Rory replied as she opened her door and placed her suitcase and laptop case in the front seat.

Lorelai turned to meet Rory in an embrace as Luke shut the door behind her. "So, kid, think you'll make your way back here before the Harvest festival?"

"I don't know," Rory admitted. "It's all kind of muddled right now."

Lorelai ran her hand through Rory's hair. "Even through all of next month?"

"I'll let you know."

Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, let us know, okay?"

"I will," Rory replied. She reached over to give Luke a hug. "Thanks for the extra goodies, Luke."

He chuckled. "Any time."

Rory crossed over to the other side of the car. "I'll call you before I leave New York, Mom, OK?"

Lorelai smiled at her daughter. "OK," she affirmed.

Luke reached out to toy with a strand of Lorelai's hair as they watched Rory drive off into the night.

"She'll be back before you know it," he told her.

Lorelai reached out and linked her arm though his. "I know."

They heard April squeal through her bedroom window as a loud clatter echoed through the night.

"Was that a happy or an angry squeal?" Luke mused.

"Well, it certainly sounded like a destructive one," Lorelai replied as she tugged him in the direction of the house. "Come on."

Luke shook his head. "This wayward brood," he murmured to himself as he and Lorelai headed toward the front door.


	6. Chapter 6

Lorelai found Jess surrounded by an avalanche of paperwork when she let herself into the apartment a few days later.

"I'll be down in forty-five minutes like I told Luke this morning," he told Lorelai, not looking up from the yellow legal pad he was fervently scribbling notes on.

Lorelai pulled out the other chair from the kitchen table and sat down. "It's okay. The lunch rush won't start for a while, and I think Kirk's gone a full hour without starting anything that's going to cause a death threat from Luke."

Jess smirked. "That won't last long," he retorted.

"I think you've got a little wiggle room," Lorelai replied. She gestured at the mess that was spread across the kitchen table. "What's all this?"

"Book press stuff," Jess replied. He shifted some of the papers to the right side of his notepad to keep them from drifting to the floor.

"Luke may have mentioned something like that." Lorelai cleared her throat. Jess put his pen down and met her gaze, curious about the real reason she was dropping in in the middle of the afternoon. "So, Jess, um, what happened this weekend -"

"Oh, God." Jess ran his fingers through his hair.

Lorelai sighed and plunged forth. "Look, I know what the situation is now. But whatever happened with you and Rory on Saturday, and whatever is going to happen or not happen in the future -" She paused. "I just wanted you to know that Luke and I will at least try to remain cool about it."

"Cool, huh?"

"Look, I know this whole setup we have is more Arrested Development than Modern Family, but I've been trying to make things better than they were before. I know it isn't exactly what anyone expected, and I don't know if that makes things more or less weird, but I would like to think that things haven't been a total disaster."

"It hasn't", Jess reassured her. "Really." He put the cap back on his pen. "I think we all knew that any scenario with you and my uncle that actually worked was wasn't going to be exactly normal."

Lorelai smiled.

"Besides," Jess continued. "Me and Rory - it's not happening." His mouth turned up at the edges. "Right now, anyway." He fingered the side of the table. "No need to anticipate any Game Of Thrones style shenanigans if it did, anyway."

Lorelai met him with a blank stare.

"Oh, come on."

"I still don't speak geek," Lorelai insisted.

"You just busted in here and referenced Arrested Development."

"Well, it may be a current cultural reference one of these days. Besides, can you blame me if I'm behind on these things? I live with _Luke_."

"Sometimes it turns out those who speak geek are a little more up to date than the dwindling part of the population that isn't," Jess reminded her.

"Whatever." Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hey, Rory aside," Jess continued. "I am getting things together here. It's not going to happen overnight, but I do have a plan." He sighed. "Maybe it's taken a while, but I've realized that sometimes you need a second plan to incorporate the original plan. That's what I'm headed for now."

Lorelai smiled. "I know you are. In fact, that's why I'm here." She reached in her purse for a small envelope, and handed it to Jess. "Luke told me to give this to you."

Jess fingered the side of the envelope. "Is it -"

"I think we both know what it is. Whatever you've got going on here, we both want you to get there."

Jess shot her a gaze of something approximating appreciation.

Lorelai stood up. "Well, I've got to get home to my cantankerous dog. Send Luke home to me in one piece, alright?"

"Will do."

Jess let the door close behind her before he opened the envelope.

 _Jess -_

 _LVG05042004_

 _TELL. NO. ONE._

Some things about Luke Danes would never change.

* * *

Rory was twenty minutes outside of Brooklyn when the traffic jam hit.

She sighed. Part of her figured it would have just been easier to try to snag a flight down to South Carolina and rent a car for the next couple of weeks. However, she was fairly certain she wouldn't have been able to budget for the expenses, especially since she didn't know exactly how long this trip was going to take. Plus, there was something to be said for the spontaneity of it. Planning out her schedule to the minutest detail often seemed like a character trait that belonged to a different person these days.

The buzzing of her phone jarred her out of her thoughts. She knew it couldn't be her mother or her editor, both of whom she'd spoken to a few hours ago. However, there was a certain someone who she'd been expecting to hear from over the past couple days, but who hadn't bothered to call her.

Jess.

Part of her briefly contemplated letting the phone go to voicemail. She'd gotten sucked into more of those old feelings than she anticipated, and she knew part of her heart wanted her to indulge them. Her brain kept winning out, though, and the practical side of her knew she couldn't give in. She was a little afraid that if she spoke to him again, everything that she knew was best for both of them would soon be obliterated.

But they were friends despite everything, right?

Rory picked up the phone.

The silky voice on the other end caught her off guard.

"Logan."

THE END

 _Okay, I know a lot of you guys are going to hate me for that ASP-worthy ending. However, this was never intended to be an AU story. I merely wanted the prospect of a future Lit ship to be debated and to contemplate what could have happened between Rory and Jess to make them avoid each other's physical presence for a few years as well as plug up some of the revival's many, many plot holes._

 _Thanks to everyone who hung in this far. I have some ideas for a follow-up (just because Jess and Rory aren't physically around each other doesn't mean they won't have contact) and I'm working on something else regarding the gaps around the Logan storyline. If you've enjoyed any part of this, I hope you'll keep an eye out for those, as well._


End file.
